leaving for the airport in a half hour. I find that i don't really like what bit of cambodia i have seen so far. perhaps the countryside will be better but i don't think i want to ever come back here again. rather sad, as this is the first time i've said that about any country. The fact is, once the temples of angkor have been covered, i find very little else here, be it the people, the attractions/sights, the food or the scenery to be worth my time, money and effort. I know i have also invested less effort while here than in other countries, but honestly, the warding off of touts and trying not to get ripped off too badly by businesses, hotels, guesthouse, drivers, food and drink sellers etc already take up all of my energy. I actually think this trip would have been a lot less pleasant for me had the other two girls not been with me... so, thanks, babes =))
can't wait to get home, though it will be one flight and an overnight train ride away. what a difference from my last foray into indochina!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
last night in cambodia
hmm.. it's been a while since i've blogged, no? guess it comes with having company =) the girls just left for the airport abt 2hrs ago, and i will be leaving tomorrow afternoon too, but for KL to take a train home (this is what comes of booking tickets too early: ie. before the news about jetstar's PHN-SIN direct $126 (?) flights came out. sigh. not to mention the S$60 SIN-BKK ticket i forfeited. ah well.
anyway, i wonder which of the girls scream tourist, because in the past 2 hours of walking around, nobody has really thought i am a tourist or at least nobody who dared to approach me. The policeman at Wat Phnom only stepped up after i took out the big camera and started snapping, and even then he spoke to me in khmer first. The usual huge gang of tuk tuk drivers at the entrance didn't even bother to get up, though the nearest one did ask me, "tuk tuk [something in khmer]?". Nobody at the old market bothered me either, nor on the streets... which, trust me, is a HUGE difference from the experience of the past week... they are normally extremely aggressive, enough to rival those of Java (and that time i was with 2 distinctly chinese/taiwanese looking friends).
what have the past few days been like? hmm.. royal palace is nice, but not half as grand or big as that in bangkok. The city is small, but not as small as vientiane. markets are ok, and i actually bought quite a lot by my standards =P probably because i was with people who do stop and browse carefully instead of just walk past the stalls like i usu do... Genocide museum and killing fields were sobering, and very very sad, and more than a little creepy at sunset. i think.. it's something that has to be experienced, because my words are simply not adequate to describe the horrors of recent cambodian history.
I'm not sure if i like cambodia the country. i don't think i've really seen it anyway, and it would be unfair to judge from the very (bad) tourist viewpoint solely. I can understand their desperation/need to rip tourists off sometimes, but it doesn't mean i have to like it, humor it or put up with it.
anyway, i wonder which of the girls scream tourist, because in the past 2 hours of walking around, nobody has really thought i am a tourist or at least nobody who dared to approach me. The policeman at Wat Phnom only stepped up after i took out the big camera and started snapping, and even then he spoke to me in khmer first. The usual huge gang of tuk tuk drivers at the entrance didn't even bother to get up, though the nearest one did ask me, "tuk tuk [something in khmer]?". Nobody at the old market bothered me either, nor on the streets... which, trust me, is a HUGE difference from the experience of the past week... they are normally extremely aggressive, enough to rival those of Java (and that time i was with 2 distinctly chinese/taiwanese looking friends).
what have the past few days been like? hmm.. royal palace is nice, but not half as grand or big as that in bangkok. The city is small, but not as small as vientiane. markets are ok, and i actually bought quite a lot by my standards =P probably because i was with people who do stop and browse carefully instead of just walk past the stalls like i usu do... Genocide museum and killing fields were sobering, and very very sad, and more than a little creepy at sunset. i think.. it's something that has to be experienced, because my words are simply not adequate to describe the horrors of recent cambodian history.
I'm not sure if i like cambodia the country. i don't think i've really seen it anyway, and it would be unfair to judge from the very (bad) tourist viewpoint solely. I can understand their desperation/need to rip tourists off sometimes, but it doesn't mean i have to like it, humor it or put up with it.
Monday, December 12, 2005
4th day of temples
tired.... a bit bored at times when revisiting the temples i had already seen.. but finally saw a sunset. at phom bakheng, of course. lots of people. too sleepy and contacts too dry to type more. waiting for my cd of photos to burn so i can clear my memory card. which is actually full of pics of mainly yl! haha... me seems to be her official photographer..
anyway, i just want to say thanks to all the people who wished me happy birthday =)) i brought my old phone with only my relatives and a few other ppl's numbers in it, so i don't know who sms-ed me, but thanks, and i'll get back to you when i get home! =P
anyway, i just want to say thanks to all the people who wished me happy birthday =)) i brought my old phone with only my relatives and a few other ppl's numbers in it, so i don't know who sms-ed me, but thanks, and i'll get back to you when i get home! =P
Saturday, December 10, 2005
waiting for friends...
Got an hour before i have to head out to the airport to pick up the 2 babes =) thankfully internet in the afternoon is so much faster than last night, when every other page refused to load or just took a damn long time, which was why i didn't blog.
anyway, sunrise at angkor: FANTASTIC!! definately worth getting up at 4 in the morning for. A freezing moto ride in the dark, under a clear sky filled with stars, then walking the causeway towards angkor wat with the stars above, the siloulette of the temple towers in front of me, the stars reflected in the moat/pools, and almost nobody there when i first arrived. No birthday could have started any better =))))
unfortunately the tour groups soon arrived in droves, as they would, but i'd already staked out my little piece of real estate on one of the libraries (the one facing the pond filled with lotuses), so it wasn't too bad, and the group that settled around me was a chinese tour group so i could listen in on some of the tour guide's commentary. Actually, I've been doing that a lot. The official angkor guides that many of them hire do notice me and know exactly what i'm doing, but unlike european tour guides who shoot you a dirty look and try to avoid you, those here just smile at me or even talk to me while their sheep are phototaking etc. Helps to know both english and chinese. hee. would have been better to know some japanese or korean though: it seems that koreans and japanese are 2 of the largest groups of visitors to cambodia.
I am a very slow temple visitor and i think i took a very long time at each of the temples. could't even finish the petit circuit. good thing i have 5 days to see everything i guess =P Have not yet seen an angkor sunset because i was so tired by 4.30pm yesterday. Actually i really sped up at the end cos i felt, for no good reason, quite paiseh to be keeping my driver waiting! Maybe would have been better to cycle like i usu do at these places, but i guess i can cover more and feel less tired this way... and the temples are really fantastic. really really.
Today i went to see the roluos group of temples in the morning. Less people, and only 3 temples of any note. The main one, Bakhong , is really very much like borobodur. was supposed to be inspired by it, but boro is in much better condition.. Done pretty quickly (relative to me) so my driver, Polin, took me to see the sights in town (which are all really close and walkable from anywhere in siem reap). Also saw where all the cheaper guesthouses, quieter neighbourhoods and where the locals go to market etc are, ie the kind of places and areas i would normally have stayed on my own, but i guess this is a different kind of experience too! the mid-range no need to learn the local language or change to local currency kind =P
but at least i have found a non-tourist food place and mama-shop in the middle of tourist central here =) phew. no point paying US$1-1.5 for a bottle of water when the locals pay just 1000 riel (US$0.25)!! i mean, i don't mind that price around the temples cos that's expected, but i won't do that in town... and i hate the separate tourist/local menu and sitting areas in most fo the restuarants and even roadside stalls in this area. And don't get me started on the million and one tuk tuk and moto drivers or restuarant touts on the sidewalks asking "lady, you want tuk tuk? angkor? some food? water?". give me the local market where people just ignore me or look at me as a curiousity rather than as a bag of money!!
anyway, sunrise at angkor: FANTASTIC!! definately worth getting up at 4 in the morning for. A freezing moto ride in the dark, under a clear sky filled with stars, then walking the causeway towards angkor wat with the stars above, the siloulette of the temple towers in front of me, the stars reflected in the moat/pools, and almost nobody there when i first arrived. No birthday could have started any better =))))
unfortunately the tour groups soon arrived in droves, as they would, but i'd already staked out my little piece of real estate on one of the libraries (the one facing the pond filled with lotuses), so it wasn't too bad, and the group that settled around me was a chinese tour group so i could listen in on some of the tour guide's commentary. Actually, I've been doing that a lot. The official angkor guides that many of them hire do notice me and know exactly what i'm doing, but unlike european tour guides who shoot you a dirty look and try to avoid you, those here just smile at me or even talk to me while their sheep are phototaking etc. Helps to know both english and chinese. hee. would have been better to know some japanese or korean though: it seems that koreans and japanese are 2 of the largest groups of visitors to cambodia.
I am a very slow temple visitor and i think i took a very long time at each of the temples. could't even finish the petit circuit. good thing i have 5 days to see everything i guess =P Have not yet seen an angkor sunset because i was so tired by 4.30pm yesterday. Actually i really sped up at the end cos i felt, for no good reason, quite paiseh to be keeping my driver waiting! Maybe would have been better to cycle like i usu do at these places, but i guess i can cover more and feel less tired this way... and the temples are really fantastic. really really.
Today i went to see the roluos group of temples in the morning. Less people, and only 3 temples of any note. The main one, Bakhong , is really very much like borobodur. was supposed to be inspired by it, but boro is in much better condition.. Done pretty quickly (relative to me) so my driver, Polin, took me to see the sights in town (which are all really close and walkable from anywhere in siem reap). Also saw where all the cheaper guesthouses, quieter neighbourhoods and where the locals go to market etc are, ie the kind of places and areas i would normally have stayed on my own, but i guess this is a different kind of experience too! the mid-range no need to learn the local language or change to local currency kind =P
but at least i have found a non-tourist food place and mama-shop in the middle of tourist central here =) phew. no point paying US$1-1.5 for a bottle of water when the locals pay just 1000 riel (US$0.25)!! i mean, i don't mind that price around the temples cos that's expected, but i won't do that in town... and i hate the separate tourist/local menu and sitting areas in most fo the restuarants and even roadside stalls in this area. And don't get me started on the million and one tuk tuk and moto drivers or restuarant touts on the sidewalks asking "lady, you want tuk tuk? angkor? some food? water?". give me the local market where people just ignore me or look at me as a curiousity rather than as a bag of money!!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Cambodia! Siem Reap! Angkor!
haha.. decided to give today's angkor sunset a miss though it would have been free entry with my next day ticket as i want to save my first view of angkor for dec 9. birthday angkor sunrise!! hee, like a big present to myself =)) hoping it won't be TOO crowded though..
today has been another long day of moving around. Border was surprisingly easy in spite of all the bad reports i'd heard about the Aran - Poi Pet border. Problem was somehow i crossed at a time when there weren't ANY lone tourists going to Siem Reap and waited i think 3-4hs at the bus depot. Thankfully the staff there were very friendly and talked to me almost the whole way.
the one female staff took me aside (away from the rest of the eavesdropping guys) to tell me about her love life and what she should do... i do empathise, but who am i to make judgements on or to influence her future? basically, she had/has a local bf whom she loves but due to family situation/finances, cannot afford to get married. There's a middle-aged american very persistently courting her who she doen't like/love but she wants to jump at the chance to go to the usa and have money and family and be loved... also, this guy wants to sleep with her obviously, and can't understand why she won't (apparently cambodian girls are not as easy as thai ones...). she thinks she is getting old (my age, sigh.) and won't have much chances left to meet a foreigner who will marry her and who she can love... sigh...
Finally a swiss guy came along but before we got our third person for the cab another one came along with a singaporean couple and 1 chinaman in it and i asked to join in. Thought it's shar with them as in pay the s'poreans 1/4 of the fare that they already paid but after they got off the driver told me that their fare was only for 3 ppl and i have to pay HIM an extra $10!! wish eh had said something earlier.. i could have done a lot with that $12, which i will ask the s'poreans for IF i do meet them around (but think they staying more up-market than me leh..)
anyway, the chinaman is quite interesting. Been CYCLING on the road for the past 5 years!! amazing.. the wanted to go to thailand but there are apparently quite a lot of restrictions on chinese passports so he had to turn back and go to Phnom Penh to get the visa. Lots of stories from him. Interesting views too.
I don't really like the look of siem reap so far... the people are nice, but i just don't feel very right here. maybe i just need to get used to it, and get used to paying slightly more for a slightly better room cos i don't have the LP with me and just can't seem to find all the $2/3 places i remember seeing listed. sigh. Or maybe i am just super not an urban/city person. Feeling distinctly unfriendly. guess i won't be sitting anywhere talking to anyone today. shall just go have dinner then sleep!!
today has been another long day of moving around. Border was surprisingly easy in spite of all the bad reports i'd heard about the Aran - Poi Pet border. Problem was somehow i crossed at a time when there weren't ANY lone tourists going to Siem Reap and waited i think 3-4hs at the bus depot. Thankfully the staff there were very friendly and talked to me almost the whole way.
the one female staff took me aside (away from the rest of the eavesdropping guys) to tell me about her love life and what she should do... i do empathise, but who am i to make judgements on or to influence her future? basically, she had/has a local bf whom she loves but due to family situation/finances, cannot afford to get married. There's a middle-aged american very persistently courting her who she doen't like/love but she wants to jump at the chance to go to the usa and have money and family and be loved... also, this guy wants to sleep with her obviously, and can't understand why she won't (apparently cambodian girls are not as easy as thai ones...). she thinks she is getting old (my age, sigh.) and won't have much chances left to meet a foreigner who will marry her and who she can love... sigh...
Finally a swiss guy came along but before we got our third person for the cab another one came along with a singaporean couple and 1 chinaman in it and i asked to join in. Thought it's shar with them as in pay the s'poreans 1/4 of the fare that they already paid but after they got off the driver told me that their fare was only for 3 ppl and i have to pay HIM an extra $10!! wish eh had said something earlier.. i could have done a lot with that $12, which i will ask the s'poreans for IF i do meet them around (but think they staying more up-market than me leh..)
anyway, the chinaman is quite interesting. Been CYCLING on the road for the past 5 years!! amazing.. the wanted to go to thailand but there are apparently quite a lot of restrictions on chinese passports so he had to turn back and go to Phnom Penh to get the visa. Lots of stories from him. Interesting views too.
I don't really like the look of siem reap so far... the people are nice, but i just don't feel very right here. maybe i just need to get used to it, and get used to paying slightly more for a slightly better room cos i don't have the LP with me and just can't seem to find all the $2/3 places i remember seeing listed. sigh. Or maybe i am just super not an urban/city person. Feeling distinctly unfriendly. guess i won't be sitting anywhere talking to anyone today. shall just go have dinner then sleep!!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Thai border: Aran
In border town now. Will cross over tomorrow.
hmm... for some strange reason, i took a bloody long time to get out of the airport, missed the 11.30am train to the city, hence missed the one from Hualumphong to Aran and had to go look for the bus station (which turned out to be fairly near the airport). Then the 2.30 bus was full and i had to take the next slower and more expensive one and finally got here only at 8pm, way after dark. (sun set early: it was totally dark by six.) Not fun, being on the road for 13h straight, and another goodness knows how long more tomorrow.
the hotel is nice. not super cheapo, but good value for 230B. was hoping there would be some hangout area at the lobby where i can try to look for people to share cab to siem reap tomorrow, but it looks like everyone just stays in their rooms. or maybe there are not many people around.... will have to try and hang around the lobby or customs/border tomorrow and try my luck. Not looking forward to paying US$45 for my ride!!
I know i promised to re-write last night's message, but i am seriously tired now.. just want to bathe and lie down on the bed.... plus the rates here aren't posted and the guy didn't say anything when i asked and everyone else here is a neighbourhood boy playing computer games. sigh.
hmm... for some strange reason, i took a bloody long time to get out of the airport, missed the 11.30am train to the city, hence missed the one from Hualumphong to Aran and had to go look for the bus station (which turned out to be fairly near the airport). Then the 2.30 bus was full and i had to take the next slower and more expensive one and finally got here only at 8pm, way after dark. (sun set early: it was totally dark by six.) Not fun, being on the road for 13h straight, and another goodness knows how long more tomorrow.
the hotel is nice. not super cheapo, but good value for 230B. was hoping there would be some hangout area at the lobby where i can try to look for people to share cab to siem reap tomorrow, but it looks like everyone just stays in their rooms. or maybe there are not many people around.... will have to try and hang around the lobby or customs/border tomorrow and try my luck. Not looking forward to paying US$45 for my ride!!
I know i promised to re-write last night's message, but i am seriously tired now.. just want to bathe and lie down on the bed.... plus the rates here aren't posted and the guy didn't say anything when i asked and everyone else here is a neighbourhood boy playing computer games. sigh.
ARGH!! stupid blogger!!
i typed a super long post, then it disappeared when i tried to spellcheck, then i typed another shorter one to explain, then that too disappeared when i tried to post. sigh.
anyway, flying tomorrow. have lost the inclination to write tonight. now to catch a couple hours sleep before i go to the airport...
will attempt to re-create lost entries when i get to Bangkok (wed afternoon) or Aran (wed night) or Siem Reap (thurs afternoon).
let's see if this post gets eaten too..
anyway, flying tomorrow. have lost the inclination to write tonight. now to catch a couple hours sleep before i go to the airport...
will attempt to re-create lost entries when i get to Bangkok (wed afternoon) or Aran (wed night) or Siem Reap (thurs afternoon).
let's see if this post gets eaten too..
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